Cannabis Helps Cure Epilepsy; Study Reveals

A new study reveals another benefit of cannabis: treatment of a rare and severe form of epilepsy in children.

Dravet syndrome is a very uncommon and often fatal epilepsy disorder. It was discovered that cannabidiol, the derivative of cannabis, was able to decrease the frequency of convulsive seizures for the patients by 39% during the first large-scale clinical trial for the compound.

Cannabidiol which is also known as CBD, is a type of compound with is found in the marijuana plant and does not hold psychoactive properties which can stimulate a high.

Telegraph reported Professor Orrin Devinsky, the lead researcher saying, “Cannabidiol should not be viewed as a panacea for epilepsy, but for patients with especially severe forms who have not responded to numerous medications, these results provide hope that we may soon have another treatment option.”

He further continued, “We still need more research, but this new trial provides more evidence than we have ever had of cannabidiol’s effectiveness as a medication for treatment-resistant epilepsy.”

According to their study published in New England Journal of Medicine, the research was conducted by a liquid pharmaceutical formulation of CBD known as Epidiolex. 120 youngsters ranging in age from 2 to 18 and had Dravet Syndrome were assigned at a random for receiving either CBD 20 mg/kg or a placebo along with their existing treatment for a period of over 14-weeks.

The frequency of the seizures was recorded for a month before and during the study. It was seen in the results that the frequency of the CBD-treated group was reduced by 39% from almost 12 convulsive seizures per month to almost six, three patients’ seizures stopped completely. Whereas, about 13% drop was seen in the placebo group from approximately 15 seizures per month to 14.

The researchers informed that the difference between both the groups was greatly significant and consistent. The after effects too were mild in severity.

Fureman from the Epilepsy Foundation mentioned, “Before publication of this trial, much of the clinical evidence about CBD's effects on people's seizures was uncontrolled and anecdotal.” She also informed that this research is “critically important” for the epilepsy community. She also thinks that a CBD-based medical product would be a first-in-class therapeutic option, reported CNN.